


The Other Side

by jimmoriartyisthebestboss



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Cussing, Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Sad with a Happy Ending, World War II, post-Avengers: Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 02:24:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17799347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimmoriartyisthebestboss/pseuds/jimmoriartyisthebestboss
Summary: Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have managed to acquire the gauntlet from Thanos. Steve Rogers has only request: to go back to the last time he was able to sit down and talk with Bucky Barnes. Steve doesn't know if Bucky will be back when he and Tony travel back to their time and Steve has something to say to Bucky.





	The Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> First, the title is taken from the song The Other Side by Ruelle. I thought it was a pretty appropriate title but the lyrics in particular also add to the story. The lyrics that seem to really hit home for this piece is _"Don't want to know the other side of a world without you."_ The whole song is an embodiment of this piece.
> 
> This was written before I had seen Avengers: Infinity War and was only going based off the trailer. It was also based off the fact that there was pictures cycled of Chris Evan's dressed in the WWII uniform while filming Endgame that made people theorize that Steve goes back in time. I wanted to explore that a bit in this.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

Disbelief still ran through Steve’s veins as he stood in the crowded bar and watched. Steve watched the front door open and men come in, laughing and shoving each other. In his head, Steve had replayed this moment thousands of times and thought of what he would have said. Now Bucky was gone, and he watched as Bucky, the Bucky he knew in the 1940’s, walks to the bar and separates himself from the Commandos. From this angle, Steve could see Bucky’s facial expression change from one of cheer to one of grief and pain.

Steve’s heart constricts as he watches Bucky takes his seat. This Bucky was put together, his uniform neatly pressed and his hair in place. The Bucky from the 40’s didn’t have the long hair, the metal arm that Steve had come accustomed to. Tears burned the back of Steve’s eyes as he looked at this Bucky and realized he missed his Bucky. Steve missed the Bucky with the long hair that blew in his eyes, the way Bucky’s metal arm felt pressed against his skin, and the shared love.

His Bucky was dead though, turned to ash by Thanos and the memory of the ground against his knees, Steve’s muttering of no, no not Bucky. Anyone but Bucky. Steve just got him back, not Bucky. Bucky was gone, and he was dirt and ash and so were many of Steve’s friends. All Steve touched and loved felt as if it died. Steve could feel the panic surging up like a tidal wave about to hit and he closes his eyes, breathes deeply. Steve had a mission and he was going to execute it.

Tony had managed to steal the gauntlet and they were trying to put things to right. They had defeated Thanos, but they had to fix the death of their friends and loved ones. Before Steve went back, he asked for this one thing. Steve Rogers who never asked for anything had asked Tony to bring him back to this moment. Not the train, not the moment Bucky was found in the snow but this moment. The last moment he had where he joked with Bucky, talked to him.

It took a great amount of effort for Steve to gather his courage and walk. Tony was hidden in the darkest corner of the bar, watching with disinterest and waiting to go home. Steve needed this moment though and he pulled the chair out, sitting down heavily in it.

“See? I told you,” Bucky says, looking over and giving Steve a brilliant smile, “they’re all idiots.”

The words are like a punch to the gut. Steve knows what he should say next. What about you? You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death? Steve knew he should wait for the reply and the words that played in his head over and over again. Instead he looked at Bucky, really looked at him.

“I know I’m pretty, but you don’t need to stare so hard.” Bucky says, taking a swig of his drink and looking over at him.

Steve chuckles but the sound is dead to his own ears as he looks around the room and then back to Bucky. Always back to Bucky. “Buck.”

At the sound of his voice, Bucky straightens and looks Steve over. “Is something wrong?”

“I…” The words die on his tongue and all he can do is swallow before speaking again. “I don’t have much time Buck.”

“Time? Steve what are you talking about?” Bucky leans in, his eyes searching Steve’s face. His eyes. Jesus, Steve missed his eyes.

Steve feels bold then, reaching forward and pressing a hand against the side of Bucky’s neck. Bucky glances around and he had to stop himself from screaming. The time didn’t allow affection like this, but Steve didn’t care because if he didn’t say it now, he never would. “Buck. Just shut up and listen okay?”

Bucky nods against Steve’s hand and he breathes in again. Breathes out. “In the future, you fall. We were on a mission and you fell from a train. I thought…you were dead. Instead you became a HYDRA puppet, killing on their orders for fifty years until I found you again. I met a king named T’Challa and he had a sister named Shuri. She fixed your head and she brought you back. You had lost an arm in the fall, gotten a metal one and in a fight with Howard’s son you lost your metal arm and Shuri gave you a new one. A…” He breathes in again. “A few months ago, a space God named Thanos killed you. He killed all my friends but you…you turned to ash in front of me. Howard’s son, Tony, and I defeated Thanos and got the gauntlet from him that could control so many aspects of our world. I... I don’t know if I go back if you will be there. I don’t know if we managed to save you all. But if we didn’t Buck, I want you to know that I love you. I have loved you for so long.”

A softness creeps over Bucky’s eyes as he reaches up and touches Steve’s hand lightly. “Stevie…”

“I have to go. But I needed you to know Buck.” Steve stands up and turns his back on his best friend. Steve’s heart beats against his chest and he can feel them, the tears that had started to fall down his face.

With a rough hand Steve wipes, them away and disappears into the crowd, joining Tony in the back of the bar. Tony stands silently with his shoulder leaning against the wall, looking Steve and the bar over. Tony’s right hand is hidden against the crook of his arm. “Was it always like this? Rowdy? Did dad go here a lot?”

“Howard was always busy working on new inventions. Womanizing. What have you.” Steve says gruffly, not wanting to hear Tony tease him. “He was a lot like you.”

Tony stays silent for a moment then detaches himself from the wall. Steve throws one last glance at Bucky who looks toward the table of the Commandos, smiling. Then Tony places a hand on Steve’s shoulder and with the right that he had kept hidden, he pulls out the gauntlet and snaps his fingers.

* * *

  
There is a disorienting moment as they show up in the plain outside Wakanda’s capital city. Steve could feel that they were back in their present before he was able to pick out the modern city. They stand where their friends had died, where so many had crumbled to ash in front of them. And none of them are there.

Steve’s heart stops and he closes his eyes. Breathes in. Breathes out. Steve’s back is turned to the trees as Tony lets go of Steve’s shoulder. Tony starts to run, a thump hitting the ground and a women’s scream of joy hits Steve’s ears. Still Steve stands still, his hands shaking at his side.

Another hand touches Steve’s shoulder and a voice, so familiar to him that he would have known it hundreds of years later. “Steve?” He opens his eyes slowly.

And collapses to the ground, his hand grasping at the man in front of him. Steve’s fingers dig into the bottom of the man’s pants and Steve gasps for breaths.

In front of him, Bucky bends down, placing his cool, metal palm against Steve’s burning skin. “You did it. You saved us.”

Through the tears that had started to fall, Steve sees them all. They stand around either bewildered or hugging each other in joy. Yet Steve turns back to Bucky, cups Bucky’s cheek in his hand. “Buck…”

“Shut up Stevie. You got to speak, now I do. I love you too, you fucking idiot.”

Steve is speechless as he looks into Bucky’s eyes. “Wh…”

“I remember. It’s like a split memory. I remember our original conversation and then the other one, the one you had with me about how you love me. And I love you too.” Bucky’s fingers reach back to pull Steve’s face to his own and press a chaste kiss to his lips.

Tears mingle with the joyful gasp that Steve emits as he pulls away. Steve sits in the field, his arms around Bucky. He doesn’t remember how long or when Shuri came up to them, hugging them in pure glee. He doesn’t remember how long it was before she found T’Challa and practically tackled him to the ground before telling him he owes Steve and Bucky a place to live.

Steve does remember the Avengers being ushered into Wakanda’s capital city and to their own separate rooms to shower and sleep. Steve’s hand is rough in Bucky’s metal one as they enter their shared room, an apartment really, with its own kitchen, living room, and bedroom with an attached bathroom. Steve showers first and then Bucky who comes out in only pajama pants and crawls into the bed next to Steve. The blinds are black out and keep the sun from reaching them where they lay.

Bucky then holds Steve, muttering sweet nothings into his ear and talking about how they did it, how they’re alive and he can’t believe his luck. Eventually they both fall asleep, Steve’s head rested on top of Bucky’s chest just over his heart and Bucky’s arms flung tightly around Steve. It shouldn’t have been possible, they shouldn’t be here, but they were. It would take Heaven and Hell to try to move them from each other’s side ever again, and even then, they would still find a way to be together because this was where they belonged. They are together till the end of the line.


End file.
